If Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Randy Foye came to see how good Arizona's Derrick Williams is, they didn't see much.

What the trio of Clippers' players sitting in the front row saw was Williams get shut down.

Williams scored a season-low eight points as USC knocked off the No. 10 Wildcats 65-57 Thursday night at the Galen Center.

Conversely, the Trojans (16-12, 8-7) star forward, Nikola Vucevic was more than impressive. Playing in front of his father for the first time since he was 16-years old, Vucevic scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds -- his conference-best 17th double-double of the season.

"We get more fired up for better teams. I don't know why," he said. "In Tucson, we didn't show who we really were. So we wanted to come out today, play hard and get the win. This means a lot for our confidence."

Unlike other times this season, Vucevic had plenty of help. Jio Fontan scored 21 points, including 13 in the first half.

Arizona (23-5, 12-3) took a 21-13 lead, but Fontan kept USC in the game by scoring eight of the Trojans' final 12 points of the half. The scoring burst allowed USC to go into the halftime break down only three points.

"We were struggling," USC coach Kevin O'Neill said. "But we hung in there and played great defense the whole way. Any time you hold that team who's shooting 48 [percent] to 35 [percent], you're really doing your job."

The Trojans scored the first seven points of the second half and then battled tooth and nail with the Wildcats down the wire until they were able to break free in the final minute of the game.

As has been the case throughout the season, defense was the key for the Trojans . They held Arizona to only 19 field goals on 35.8 percent shooting.

"We're a flawed team. We're not going to win every game," O'Neill said. "What I've seen out of our guys is a resolve to play defensively and if we keep that resolve, we'll have a chance to keep winning games."

-- BREAKING IT DOWN --

Key moment: For the final 6:06, Arizona did not make a single field goal. The Wildcats missed their last six shots from the field and three free throws late in the game.

USC capitalized, finishing the game on a 13-2 run that included 10 points by Vucevic. USC's normally unreliable free throw shooting came up clutch.

The Trojans final 11 points came from the free throw line where they shot a robust 81.5 percent on the night. Six of the final 11 came from Vucevic, who was a perfect 7-for-7 on the night. 

Player of the Game: Alex Stepheson.

Nikola Vucevic was spectacular. 25 points. 12 rebounds. Nothing to scoff at. 

Jio Fontan was electric. He tied his season-high with 21 aggressive points.

However, the player of the game was Stepheson. He was a rock in the middle of the lane for the Trojans. Big Al notched his ninth double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds -- eight points and seven rebounds coming in the second half.

But even more important was his defensive effort. Playing against Derrick Williams, the frontrunner for Pac-10 Player of the Year, Stepheson effectively shut down Arizona's top offensive threat. Williams not only had a season-low eight points -- the first time he's been held to single digits this season. He also shot a career-worst 3-for-11 from the field.

"I told Al after the game that he played [Williams] real well," defensive specialist Marcus Simmons said. "He had eight points and he scored four of those on me, so he really only scored four on Al."

Williams is quicker than Stepheson, but Stepheson bodied up Williams, making it difficult for Williams to have much space. USC also clogged the lane to make it less inviting for Williams to attempt to drive by Stepheson.

"We tried to make it look crowded down [in the paint]," Simmons said. 

The strategy kept Williams away from the basket, and kept him from getting to the free throw line, where he leads the nation in attempts per game.

Most Spectacular Play: Back-to-back blocks.

USC tied the game with 2:37 remaining. The Trojans then had back-to-back spectacular defensive gems, both at the expense of Arizona's Lamont Jones. 

Jones drove the left baseline on the first play and tried to put a layup. But Stepheson came across from the weak side and swatted the shot off the backboard.

After a pair of Stepheson free throws, Jones again went in for a layup only to be denied yet again. Jones went to his left, using a screen at the top of the key to get by Simmons. Somehow, Simmons horizontal leaping ability allowed him to recover the step-and-a-half advantage Jones had on him.

As Jones attempted a game-tying finger roll at the front of the rim, Simmons got just enough of the ball from behind to deflect it off the backboard where it was corralled by Jio Fontan. From there, USC closed the game with a 7-1 run in the last minute.

Unsung Hero: Jio Fontan.

Last weekend, Fontan was shifted back to his natural point guard position as freshman Maurice Jones was sent to the bench. Suffering from flu symptoms that he said caused him, at times, to black out, Fontan played well but not spectacular.

Fontan said recent conversations with his father helped him get back to his East Coast roots of being aggressive and attacking the basket.

"Here and there I need a smack in the head to wake me up kind of," he said. "We've had a couple of talks where it hasn't been him giving me an attitude, but just saying, 'Get back to doing what you do.'"

Against Arizona, he did just that. Fontan constantly knifed through the lane and got to the rim or forced the Wildcats to foul him.

"Jio kept us in the game in the first half," O'Neill said. "Jio's become more comfortable the last three games. He was sick against Cal...but controlled the game. He controlled the whole game against Stanford and controlled the whole game tonight."

O'Neill said he felt the switch back to point guard has helped Fontan settle in and take leadership on the court.

"Jio's starting to feel like it's his team in terms of controlling the ball and controlling the point."

"Step It Up:" Donte Smith.

It's hard to tell anyone to "step it up" when you knock off a top 10 team, but Smith was invisible for most of the game. He played 34 minutes but, for the first time this season, he did not score. 

Smith's statline is almost non-existant. He missed all four of his shot attempts and turned the ball over twice without an assist. He also managed only one rebound.

Key stat:  6-of-7. Alex Stepheson hadn't made more than four free throws in any game this season. In fact, he hadn't shot above 50 percent when he attempted four or more free throws this calendar year. 

But tonight, Stepheson was absolutely money from the charity stripe. He made 6-of-7, including two huge shots with 1:47 that broke a 56-56 tie, giving USC a lead it would not relinquish.

Sideline Strategy: Pysch out.

Earlier this week, Kevin O'Neill claimed Williams was the "most protected dude I've seen since Michael Jordan." Williams currently leads the nation in free throw attempts per game (9.2).

"If the guy walks across the court, it's a foul," O'Neill said.

Willams definitely heard about O'Neill's comments. After Williams was fouled the first time, O'Neill said Williams told him "That's one, with more to come."

However, Williams never returned to the free throw line. Whether O'Neill's comments had an effect or not, Williams played on the perimeter more than usual and saw a cluster of USC defenders when he did attempt to drive into the lane.

Where They Stand: Wednesday night/Thursday morning, I asked CBS and Sports Illustrated's Seth Davis what were the Trojans' chances of earning an at-large bid from the NCAA Selection Committee.

His Twitter response: "I'd say right around zero."

Though it has been debated amongst several of the USC writers, even if the Trojans win their final three regular season to end on a six-game winning streak, I have to agree with Davis' assessment.

USC just has too many "bad" losses. O'Neill disagrees.

"Jio [Fontan] wasn't playing for 10 games. Al [Stepheson] had a broken arm. So we lose to Rider, Bradley, TCU," he said. "Since then we've played consistent basketball. And you're not going to just beat Oregon just because someone said they're going to be 10th in the Pac-10."

He makes a valid point. However, the cumulation of the early losses without Fontan or a healthy Stepheson combined with the Pac-10 losses to Oregon (twice) and Oregon State are going to be too much to overcome, in my opinion.

USC is going to have to win the Pac-10 tournament and the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament that comes with it. Otherwise, they are destined to the NIT, CBI or some other waste of beat writers' time. 

Nevertheless, finishing the regular season strong could give USC the motivation and confidence to play well in the conference tournament. It also doesn't hurt that it is being held just down the street at the Staples Center, especially considering how bad the Trojans have been on the road this season.

 

To reach Shotgun Spratling, click here, or follow him on Twitter @BlueWorkhorse.

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